Without these canals, a good portion of the land that the Dutch people live on would not exist.
Canals need regular dredging (cleaning of the bottom of the canal) to make sure they are deep enough. In addition, a major problem is that bicycles and other large pieces of trash get dumped in the canals on a regular basis, making them dirty and making it hard for those cleaning and restoring the canals to do their jobs. If any major dikes or canals were to break or experience severe weather and flooding, many people, their homes, their businesses and farms would be in immediate danger.
Canals have been around for hundreds of years. When the Dutch need more land, they simply drain the water of an area and create canals. The Dutch are very much used to adapting to the environment and molding it to serve their collective needs.
